by Paul Semendinger
May 21, 2023
***
Baby if you've ever wondered...
The Yankees have never lost in the post-Aaron Hicks Era.
Greg Allen has scored the winning run in every game he's played for the Yankees in 2023.
Anthony Rizzo always homers when the Yankees play in Cincinnati.
Things are looking sunny in the Yankees Universe.
Quick Stats:
WP - Clay Holmes
SV - Ryan Weber
LP - Ian Gibaut
AARON JUDGE: 4-for-4, 3 RBI
BEN RORTVEDT: .500 batting average in 2023
After starting out 11-for-25, .440 ("He's the greatest hitter EVER!"), Harrison Bader has gone 6-for-36, .167 ("It's just a small sample size.")
Seven different pitchers have saved games for the Yankees this year
The Yankees have won the season series against the Cincinnati Reds. (This is all kind of silly, playing all these small series so that the teams play every other team in all of Major League Baseball. Maybe in 2025 they can also play all the teams in the International League.)
The Big Story:
The Yankees keep winning. They just keep winning. They win and win and win and win. The Yankees are now 13-6 in May. You know what that is? That's championship level baseball. Yup, since May rolled around, the Yankees have silenced their critics, they've played great baseball, and they are doing what they have to do. How could anyone have doubted this team?
Quick Recap:
This looked the the Reds' day. After one inning, they led 1-0. After three innings, they led 2-1. After four innings, they led 4-1. But then...
In the top of the fifth inning, the Yankees put together five consecutive hits (Kiner-Falefa homered (4-2), Ben Rortvedt singled, Gleyber Torres singled, Aaron Judge doubled home a run (4-3), and Anthony Rizzo singled (4-4) to tie the game. (Aaron Judge was thrown out at home on Rizzo's single, and, of note, D.J. LeMahieu then also singled for a sixth consecutive hit, but that was the end of the scoring.)
The score stayed tied at 4-4 until the Ghost Runner Rules of Extra Innings. Greg Allen pinch ran at second. He went to third on a Gleyber Torres fly and scored on an Aaron Judge single. Anthony Rizzo then hit a two-run homer and that was that. (Well the Reds still got to bat, but still...)
Player(s) of the Game:
IKF - a homer and a nice catch in left field
Judge, 4-for-4 with three runs batted in
Yankees bullpen: 6 innings, 1 hit, zero runs
Better to Forget:
It was probably a day Aaron Hicks would like to forget as he was designated for assignment before the game.
My Take:
How could anyone have doubted this team?
Well, I could. And, I'll go out on a limb, I'm still not convinced they're for real. Oh, they look real. This seems legitimate. Luis Severino pitches tomorrow. Carlos Rodon is coming. Giancarlo Stanton too... And since he's joined the team, Harrison Bader has been a sparkplug...
Maybe I'm just old. (I'm not really old, but...) I remember 1986, when the Jets went 10-1 to start the season and fell apart. More recently, I remember, 2022 when the New York Yankees went something like 81-0 to start the year and then never won another game. (I might be exaggerating a little here.)
My point is that these Yankees, seem to be great, terrible, great, and then terrible again. They have great peaks and long slow dark valleys.
Is is possible that the Yanks have turned the corner and are now going to roll? Sure. Why not? They have proven they can win.
But is it possible that it all comes crashing down? Yes.
But, you know what? I might not be sold, but it's awful fun watching the Yankees win and win and win again. They're playing great. I'll hold off before I proclaim them to be for real, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the ride.
LET'S GO YANKEES!!!
I can't wait to watch tomorrow's game!
Next Up:
I can't watch tomorrow's game. The Yankees are on Peacock (whatever that is.) The Yankees play the early game beginning at 11:35 a.m. Luis Severino will make his first start of the year.
***
I know so many disagree with me, but I'll never understand taking a product like baseball and making it more and more difficult for the fans of a team to see the game:
Person A: Are the Yankees on today?
Person B: Yes!
Person A: Great! It's 1:05, I'm sure it's a Sunday day game.
Person B: The game started at 11:35 a.m. You're missing it.
Person A: Huh. I never heard of that before. Are they on YES?
Person B: YES? No.
Person A: Oh, ok. I'll use my MLB-TV.
Person B: No, they're not there.
Person A: That's okay, I have Amazon Prime.
Person B: They're not there either.
Person A: Oh. I didn't know that the Fox game was this early.
Person B: It's not.
Person A: Does TBS do regular season games?
Person B: No.
Person A: It's all good. I just got Apple TV. It's worth buying a lot of streaming services so I can watch the Yankees!
Person B: They aren't on Apple TV.
Person A: Huh. Where are they?
Person B: Peacock.
Person A: Rooster. Why are we playing this game?
Person B: No, they're on Peacock.
Person A: What's that?
Person B: It's... a streaming service. It's NBC's version.
Person A: I'll order it now. I'll have to take a second mortgage and the kids won't have any shoes, but who cares? I'll see the Yankees!
Person B: It's too late?
Person A: Too late? I can't order it?
Person B: The game is over.
Peralta threw 8 pitches in the eighth. Tomorrow is an off day. Why bring in someone else (even Holmes) and run the risk that they don't have today?
Bader just his a two-run homer off of a righty, though admittedly at a homer-happy ballpark. Still, if he hits .279 (as he was entering the day) and stays on the field for the rest of the year, I'll be very, very happy -- Monty who?
if a Yankee game falls in a Cincinatti and only Rudy can see it...... is the business model unsound?
On Bader look at his platoon splits: vs LHP .467/.529/1.333
vs RHP .217/.234/.217
Still can't believe they pulled the plug on Hicks! A crack in the "process"?